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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



Jamaica: A New Industry foe Ceylon. — The eup- 

 plies of the lace bark tree — Lagetto liiiteai-'ia—aTe stated 

 to be falling short. It is the inner bark of this tree 

 which, when macerated in water, yields a most delicite 

 lacelookiug material, which for several centuries has 

 been largely used for ladies' articles of dress. A 

 former Governor presented Charles 11. with a cravat, 

 frills, and ruffles made of it, and the Woman's Self- 

 help Society has of late derived much remunerative 

 employment in the preparation of similar articles ; 

 the threatened diminished sup)jly is therefore regarded 

 seriously. — Colonies and India. 



The "Tropical Agriculturist." — We have had 

 lent us by a frieud a number of the Tropical Agri- 

 culturist, published in Colombo, Ceylon. Its perusal 

 enables us to state that we view it as a serial -which 

 will be found most interesting to every planter, as the 

 large amount of information contained in its varied 

 and able articles cannot frxil to prove of value to them. 

 Cocoa, tea, coffee, cinchona, sugar, rice, palms, and 

 other products are dealt with. The coutibutions are 

 from scientists of acknowledged repute, whilst the 

 statistics which it furnishes are highly important. 

 The articles on cinchona cultivation atid production are 

 exhaustive and replete with inform.atiou, which, with 

 the extended cultivation (by private individuals) of 

 this plant now going ou in Jamaica, must be perused 

 with great attention. The Tropical Agriculturist we 

 must not omit to say is published by Messrs. A. M. and 

 Ferguson, Ceylon Observer Office. — Trinidad Chronicle. 



New Indiaeuebek Plant. — Some months ago the Civil 

 Surgeon of Kiu'rachee, Dr. Adey, had his attention drawn 

 to certain Indian plants capable of producing ludiarubber. 

 Of those he e.iqierimeuted upon, he found that the Crypto- 

 stejiia gniniliflora was the only plant wliich produced juice 

 in a sufficient quantity to make it worth while to use as 

 an indiarubber-produciug plant. The results of his ex- 

 periments led to a discussiou in which the Superintendents 

 of the Botanical Gardens at Giuie.sh Khind, Saharunpore, 

 and Calcutta took part. The Goverument has now come 

 to the conclusion that a new and more extended trial of 

 the plant is necessary, and that Mr. Birdwood .should 

 co-operate in the experiment. With this view the 

 Oommi.ssioner in Slnd has placed a sum of RlOO at 

 Mr. Birdwood's disposal to enable him to conduct the 

 experiments ou a proper scale. It is understood tnat a 

 sample of the rubber obtained from the Cryptosfegia 

 gradifiora will be sent to England to test its quality 

 and to ascertain its market value. — Intlian Daili/ JVeio-,". 

 Cinchona Machines. — BaduUa is to the front again. 

 And yet another cinchona machine. Youi readers may 

 cry out, "Won't they stop," yet this machine is 

 simplicity and cheapness combined, and capable of 

 turning out 400 lb. of wet bark a day, with one cooly 

 to feed the machine, two to bring the twigs, and 

 one to dress the bark. It is the invention of Mr. 

 Fraser of Mesrs. Walker & Greig, Badulla, and be 

 it noted tliat this euterpriziug tirni, or rather a member 

 of it, has brought tbe most useful machines. This 

 barker is extremely port^djle. the weight being 30 lb. 

 The cost is not much, HIS, which is a point not to 

 be lost sight of in these hardup days. The facility 

 with which the machine works is astonishing, and 

 any odiyan will be able to manage it, and it is destined 

 to supercede the alavauga and bottle dodge. The patent 

 has not been obtained, and so I refrain from giving 

 particulars of the instrument. From all that is known 

 de Caen's it is an awkward machine. The Mclnues 

 and Mackenzie machine will do well to bark old trees, 

 and "Eraser's own" will stiip twig bark, a,^ well as 

 up to the thickness of the arm of a man. It stripe 

 cleun without punishing the bark. I was also courte- 

 ously shown a cinchona press which the same firm 

 is bringing out. It will press within the compass of 

 a three bualiel bag 60 lb of bark, that is liouble the 

 quautity at present o'utuiuud by oooly labour. When 

 this machine is more geuoi ally koown, planters inll find 

 out,_that i,itiuur anU money wUibe greatly saved, ~_C'or. 



Indian Tea. — Auctions, comprising 11,000 packages, 

 have been held, and nearly the whole has been taken 

 bj' the trade without further concession in value, 

 except in the case of teas wanting quality, which are 

 neglected and cheaper. Some of the finer lines have 

 attracted more attention from the exceptional value 

 offered to buyers at present rates, and show a ten- 

 dency to recover. From Messrs. W. J. and H. Thomp- 

 son's circular: — 'On June 6th the closing sale of the 

 Asaam Company's crop was effected at comparatively 

 full rates, and on the same day the first arrival of 

 the new crop was sold — viz., 100 chests from the 

 Land Mortgage Bank's Moonda Kotee estate, Darjeel- 

 ing which were of superior quality, and realized an 

 average of Is 6fd per lb, compared with Is OJd. for 

 the corresponding invoice last season. — Overland Mail. 

 The Consumption of Tea and Coffee. — Mr. H. Barter 

 \vrites, apropos of Mr, Gladstone's "perplexity," at the 

 fact that the consumption of tea steadily increases while 

 that of coffee steadily decreases: — The "perplexity" is 

 easily solved. It is liecause of the great increase in the 

 consumption of tea that that of coffee decreases, or, what 

 is more correct to say, remains steady. The facts and 

 figiu-es about tea are very interesting. In 1841 the con- 

 sumption of tea in this counti'y was 41,459,000 lb. ; in 1851 

 it was 58,500,000 lb. ; up !to this date the duty on it was 

 2s 2jd per lb. In 1853 Mr. Gladstone began his grand 

 campaign against the tariffs. Tea was one of the first 

 articles attacked, and the duty was reduced to Is lOd. 

 per lb; in 1854 it stood at Is (id ; in 18.')5-6 it was raised 

 to Is 9d ; from 1857 to 1862 it stood at Is 5il ; m 1863-4 

 at Is; and in 1865 it was reduced to 6d per lb,, where 

 it now stands. The rapid gro%vt.h in the consumption dur- 

 ing these years has been i:)erfectly marvellous. So great 

 has it been that last year, 1881, it reached the enormous 

 total of 160 milUons of pounds, as against 58 niiUions 

 in 1851, when the duty stood at 2s 2Jd. The revenue 

 derived from it at 6d per lb. duty reached a total of 

 over four miUious sterhng, against a revenue of about six 

 millions in 1851. so that this enormous reUef to the people 

 — to say nothing of the indirect advantages such as 

 stimulus to trade — has been secured without very much 

 loss to the revenue, and has largely increased the com- 

 fort and happiness of the people. The consumption of 

 coffee has remained steady during the period to which 

 I have referred, being about 32,000,000 to 35,000,000 'lb. 

 a year. The fact is that the EngUsh people, and es- 

 pecially the poorer classes, are a tea-drinking rather than 

 a coffee-drinking people. — Home and Colonial Mail. 



Indian Tea. — The following details may interest 

 our readers : — Indian tea, till within the last few years 

 has been used in England almost entirely for im- 

 proving the liquor of low-priced China tea. From the 

 beginning, Ireland has been the great stronghold, and 

 the prices paid by grocers in quite small places in 

 the north of Ireland for the Quest grades would as- 

 tonish Sydney buyers. In Belfast and Londonderry, 

 3s 6d and 43 per lb. in bond is not an extraordin- 

 ary price for a grocer to pay. Of course his customers 

 would not give him a profit on these prices, nor 

 would they find tlie tea palatable if they did, but by 

 judicious blending he has found a way to make them 

 most profitable and exceedingly palatable. The poorest 

 and sm.allest grocer in Ireland now says, " I like your 

 broken Assam, they give so much liquor," Originally 

 all Indian tea was called "Assam," no matter what 

 district it came from, so much so that it was not 

 an unheard-of thing to be asked for " Java As.sam" 

 when the grocer w,anted to reduce the price of hio 

 mixture, and still sell pure Assam tea. At the lead- 

 ing cliit>s in London, where there are numbers of 

 retired Indian officers, and the Army and the Navy 

 Co operative stores, the tea consumed is almost pure 

 Ka'igra Valley tea. In Scotland the larger leaf teas 

 or souchongs are taken, and the grocer there goes to 

 the trouble of cutting the leaf down in a mill, iu 

 order, no doub', tha' his customers may get as niuob 

 Weight as possible into a teaspoon, nmny "f these teas 

 being improved by being triturated, — Tea News, 



